The Speares

Preheat the oven to 390. Rinse a half chicken and coat with bread crumb/poultry rub mixture. Insert a probe into a likely spot. Place meat in a 2 liter (small) borosilicate baking pan.

Into the oven. Roast for

1 hour 15 at 390

Start peeling potatoes. Make sure they're a uniform size, cut in half as necessary. Put in pot of cold water on stove with a half teaspoon of salt.

Get potatoes boiling, then turn down to a simmer with a slightly ajar lid, or maybe it's a high-tech pot with a hole in the lid.

Check the chicken - it is most likely done, or will be soon. The chicken should be at least 185. Move the probe around a bit to verify. Should be no pink juices and legs should be easy to move around. If done, remove from oven. Put the half bird on a plate and tent with foil.

Let the glassware cool down a touch and in particular nothing should be bubbly. Then add some concentrated chicken stock to loosen up the brown bits. Scrape the works into a frypan along with the rest of the container of concentrated chicken stock and set it to a high simmer with no lid.

When it is getting almost tasty enough to be gravy, get a few tbsp of the stock or possibly some potato water into a cup to cool. When coolish, whisk in a tbsp of cornstarch. Then remove the pan of gravy from the stove and let sit 'til no more bubbles. Then stir in the cornstarch mixture and back on the burner whilst continuing to stir.

When the gravy is thick and the potatoes are done you're ready to serve. If you're making soup out of the bones don't drain the potatoes; instead transfer them into a different pot on the still warm burner in order to dry them. Then as chicken bones become free add them to the potato water. Either refrigerate the bone water until tomorrow or boil it up now with onions, celery and carrots.

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